Senior Fellow in Environmental and Regulatory Policy

Russ Harding is the senior fellow in environmental and regulatory policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. He previously served as senior environmental analyst and was director of the Center's Property Rights Network.

From 1995 through 2002, Harding served as director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, having previously held senior management posts in environmental and natural resources departments in Arizona, Alaska and Missouri. Before joining the Center, Harding was senior director for environment and energy affairs with Scofes, Kindsvatter & Associates, a consulting firm.

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From Russ Harding

The Michigan Supreme Court gave all private property owners in the state a belated Christmas gift with a ruling handed down on Dec. 29, 2010, that reaffirms that landowners in Michigan still have private property rights. … more

As we look forward to a new year, let's hope we are not once again disappointed with decisions made by the ruling class in Lansing and finding ourselves pining for the days of political gridlock. … more

Decisions made in Washington that affect every aspect of the lives of Americans, from the kind of cars we can drive to what type of light bulb we can put in our homes, are increasingly being made by individuals that never stand for election. … more

While it is always risky making predictions, this one is a slam dunk: The Chevrolet Volt will win the North American Car of the Year award at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit next month. Unfortunately we seem to live in a world where objective analysis has given way to political correctness, which is why I am confident regarding my prediction. … more

You do not have to look as far away as Europe to see how irresponsible spending can lead to economic collapse. California, where Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency as state debt has ballooned to more than $20 billion, provides a good example right here at home. … more

Lawmakers should reject a proposal from the Michigan Environmental Council for a 3/8-cent increase in the sales tax to fund the state’s dysfunctional contaminated site cleanup program. Throwing more taxpayer money at environmental cleanups will not fix what’s wrong with the state’s contaminated site cleanup program. … more

Recent climate conferences in Stockholm and Cancun have revealed what the global climate change issue is really all about — the transfer of wealth from developed nations to developing countries. … more

The federal government should look to the effects of Michigan's pursuit of green energy jobs as a warning, not as the shining model Gov. Jennifer Granholm paints in a recent article proposing a federal "green jobs" grant program. … more

State and national parks play an important role in reminding visitors of the unique heritage we share in America as free and independent people by retelling the stories of our ancestors who often endured hardship or even death in securing the freedoms many of us take for granted. … more

Gov. Jennifer Granholm recently wrote an article for the Huffington Post titled “A Mighty Wind,” in which she credits Michigan’s renewable energy standard of 2008 — which requires 10 percent of energy produced by the major utilities in the state come from renewable sources — for revitalizing the state’s economy. … more

Michigan officials would be wise to follow the lead of other states that we compete with for jobs and protect Michigan consumers and businesses from higher green energy costs. A good place to start is repealing the Michigan's 10 percent alternative energy mandate. … more

A recent report from the Small Business Administration calculates the existing annual regulatory costs at $1.75 trillion. This is nearly twice as large as the sum of all individual income taxes collected last year. … more

Environmental groups and other proponents of shifting to renewable energy to power our factories, heat our homes and fuel our vehicles are often the same groups that stand in the way of natural resource development. They don't realize you cannot have one without the other. … more

When most people talk about the government redistributing wealth, it involves money being taken from those who have more and being given to those who have less, such as with entitlement programs.
That has taken a new twist that few would have predicted with lavish government subsidies for purchasing electric vehicles. … more

Michigan State Parks officials often complain that there is insufficient revenue to adequately operate and maintain the system. The legislative response to the problem? Add more revenue-losing rustic campgrounds to the State Park system. … more

Most environmentalists would not consider themselves socialists, much less communists, but the policies they support in the name of saving the planet almost always sacrifice individual liberty for central government control. … more

The Great Lakes are a national treasure and are too important to Michigan to sacrifice to environmental and political ideology. Locating windmills in the Great Lakes is a high-risk venture. It is time for the state to do its job and ensure the Great Lakes are protected. … more

The U.S. Forest Service has issued new regulations regarding guiding and outfitting on national forest lands. If you plan to guide someone in the fall bear season and you have not made application for a permit, you may be out of luck as the application deadline was July 1. … more

Michigan residents can expect to pay significantly higher energy bills in the future due in large part to state law that requires that 10 percent of electricity sales in the state come from renewable sources, such as wind. … more

According to the 2010 Index of Economic Freedom published by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal, there are 16 countries that do a better job of protecting private property rights than the United States. … more

The New York Times reported yesterday that "the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico appears to be dissolving far more rapidly than expected" and that "the immense patches of surface oil that covered thousands of square miles of the gulf are largely gone." … more

It is good news that cap-and-trade legislation passed by the U.S. House will not be taken up by the Senate as announced by Senate leader Harry Reid yesterday. However, it is too early to celebrate the death of this job-killing legislation that would increase the cost of energy for American consumers and businesses. Bad ideas coming out of Washington die only to be resurrected in another form. … more

Private capitol essential to growing jobs in Michigan is much more likely to be invested where private property rights are secure and not threatened by the actions of well-meaning public officials. … more

Sometimes it seems like we are repeating the Dark Ages but with political fear-mongering replacing superstition in trumping science. A future where public policy is primarily shaped by fear rather than relying on the best science is too bleak to contemplate. … more

Even with extensive evidence that high-speed rail projects are very expensive to build and operate, the Michigan Legislature seems intent on expanding this form of inefficient mass transit in the state. … more

Congress has an opportunity to restore accountability to elected officials and put limits on the power wielded by unaccountable bureaucrats when the U.S. Senate considers Joint Resolution 26 tomorrow. … more

Chinese officials are considering rules that would make it more difficult for local government to seize property from individuals and turn it over to developers without at least compensating the property owners, according to a report in the May 27, 2010, edition of The New York Times. East Lansing officials may want to pay attention. … more

Michigan's brownfield contaminated site cleanup program, once considered by many to be the best in the nation, is today largely dysfunctional. The main problem is that it is nearly impossible to get closure — once you check in you can never check out. Businesses are reluctant to invest money to clean up contaminated sites when they are at the whim of state environmental regulators for a never ending series of additional cleanup requirements. … more

Gov. Granholm is often quoted as saying: "I will go anywhere and do anything to create jobs in Michigan." She can start in Lansing by burying the recommendations of the Midwest Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord along with the now defunct Michigan Climate Action Council. … more

The Gulf oil spill has demonstrated federal environmental officials left on their own will make decisions that defy common sense and logic. Guidance from the Obama administration is sorely needed. … more

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment today announced the denial of the permit to install applied for by Wolverine Power Supply to build a new 600 megawatt coal fired power plant near Rogers City. … more

Constructing hundreds of wind turbines in the water, each approaching 400 feet in height with blades as long as 70 feet, would transform the scenic vistas of the Great Lakes into one of an industrial complex. Hardly "pure Michigan." … more

Anyone who is concerned about protecting the Great Lakes from diversions should be worried when the state Legislature has to resort to a non-binding House Concurrent Resolution as a last line of defense against large scale diversions from Lake Michigan. … more

It is disturbing that Detroit City officials and its contractors would flagrantly disregard well-known environmental laws regarding the removal of asbestos. It is more disturbing that state environmental regulatory officials seem to be applying different enforcement standards to government agencies and the private sector. … more

It is disturbing that Detroit City officials and its contractors would flagrantly disregard well-known environmental laws regarding the removal of asbestos. It is more disturbing that state environmental regulatory officials seem to be applying different enforcement standards to government agencies and the private sector. … more

The Detroit Free Press reported today that the White House announced yesterday that it will buy the first 100 plug-in electric vehicles to roll off American assembly lines before the end of the year. Surprise: The only car to meet that qualification is the Chevy Volt, which coincidentally started production at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant on the same day of the White House announcement. Apparently, federal purchasing requirements have been creatively constructed to allow the U.S. government to purchase the vehicles from General Motors, of which the federal government has a 61 percent ownership. … more

The U.S. Department of Energy should be providing us with unbiased energy information. All Americans should be concerned when federal agencies are used as a political tool to advance policy objectives of the president or members of Congress. Is it any wonder that trust for government it at such a low point? … more